West Michigan's Morning News
Republican Response to Michigan Budget
- I don't know about you, but no new taxes jumped out at me. This is West Michigan's Morning News. Steve Kelly, that is Brett Bakeda. Joining us on the live line on West Michigan's Morning News is Representative Gina Johnson, Lake Odessa, serving Statehouse District 78. Thank you for doing this this morning. - It's good to be with you on Wood radio again. Thank you. - In the next half hour, we're gonna talk to Lieutenant Governor Gilcrest about democratic reaction to this budget. We've heard Republicans say it's big, right? But can we start up with education and mental health and what work was done there? - Well, you know, it's an interesting scenario. The background here for the past 10 to 20 years, the publicans have been criticized for not putting enough money into mental health in the budget, on the state budget and not spending enough money on schools. Now, the facts are though, historically, Republicans have ramped that up. Increased school spending, almost every single year, and gradually increased money for mental health. And I cannot believe that in this budget, under the Democrats, they did not increase school spending and they cut some of the mental health. So I'm just in shock that what Republicans were criticized for years, they're doing better than any Republican has ever done. For the budget to be this big and not include those, it's just unconscionable, especially given the situation we're in right now. - Did I see Representative Johnson that there are new new taxes? There won't be any increases in this new budget? - Well, I'm pleased to say that, even though we were cut out from the negotiations, unlike last year, and we were surprised with over 1,000 pages to read in a couple hours and supposedly passed, which is largely, one of the biggest reasons we voted no on it. There's no new taxes right here, but there's the promise of many to come. Now, I don't know what that means, but our families, our mission and families need tax cuts. They need tax credit. They're struggling every which way to pay for just basic things again. We all know inflation is hit us so hard. So I'm disappointed there aren't tax breaks in here just to help the average family. And the governor's been spending over $6 billion a year on transportation and infrastructure projects. And yet the roads are still in poor shape. So I'm a bit confused. Roads don't seem like a priority anymore. And yet, government's top priority should be infrastructure and safety, no matter what. - Serving Michigan's 78th district, and from Lake Odessa, Representative Gina Johnson, a pleasure. Thank you for your time today. You guys have put some hours in the last week or so. So we appreciate you eking out a little time for us.